Protecting workers' rights throughout the AI revolution

Was the rejection of an American as EU Commission's chief competition economist simply "nationalist crap"? No, there were five good reasons to reject Fiona Scott Morton — and now there is everything to play for in breaking up Big Tech.

Taiwan's decision to build a microchip factory in Germany will deepen EU political ties, despite Chinese opposition, Taipei has said.

Border management has become a full-fledged business sponsored by the EU taxpayer. But surveillance technologies deployed in north Africa for fighting human trafficking, smuggling or anti-terrorism are often used by authoritarian governments to curtail civic space.

The EU's emerging AI act says so little on workers' rights that Europe will need a separate AI-labour law, trade unions warn.

EU labour ministers have finally agreed their position on the directive for platform workers — but with major internal differences and a very different position from that of the parliament and council.

After several attempts to reach a common position, the EU Council could finally reach an agreement on the platform workers' rules at the upcoming ministerial meeting — but disagreements over the employment status of these workers remain sharp.

The EU's ambition to be a digital superpower stands in stark contrast to the US — but the bigger problem is that it remains far better at regulation than innovation, despite decades of hand-wringing over Europe's technology gap.

European states and international organisations have developed technologies to detect migration patterns and predict the number of people from third countries seeking asylum in the EU. But doubts have been raised about the effectiveness and desirability of using predictive technologies.

"This [decision] might not mean much for people's rights. In practice, it would mean that actually Facebook would have to do nothing, because they would have a new legal basis under which the data can move to the US."

Six months after Qatargate, as institutional inertia and parliamentary privileges weigh in, the sense of gravity and collective resolve have all but disappeared. MEPs show little enthusiasm for reform of the rules that today allow them significant outside paid activities.

The aim is "to avoid a controlled society based on AI, instead to make AI support more freedom and human development, not a securitarian nightmare" a key MEP on the file said.

The European Commission has long experience in regulating and policing complex industries, such as artificial intelligence. Even the big EU member states do not have such capacities and skills anymore.

European lawmakers regulating the risks of artificial intelligence are likely to face resistance from EU states ahead of negotiations later this year and possibly even among their peers ahead of a plenary vote.

The European Health Data Space is a new EU law proposed to make use of your medical records for research purposes. It would essentially abolish the medical profession's oath of confidentiality with their patients. We must not let that happen.